Lonnie Bohn and Don Blaschko installed a Toro SDI system on a 53-acre field four years ago and have seen higher yields due to increased water efficiency. “We started to look at the drip system because of the lower pressure and absolute efficiency. None of the water runs off,” Bohn says. “It’s all underground, so there is no evaporation.”
Continue readingIrrigation efficiency is the key to extending the life of the Ogallala Aquifer. If current irrigation trends continue, 69 percent of the available groundwater in the aquifer will be drained in the next 50 years, according to a four-year study done by researchers at Kansas State University.
The Ogallala Aquifer, which is part of the High Plains Aquifer system, is vitally important to Great Plains agriculture. About 27 percent of the irrigated land in the United States sits on top of the aquifer, which provides about 30 percent of the groundwater used for irrigation in the U.S.
Subsurface drip irrigation is one way to use irrigation water more efficiently.
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One of our drip irrigation experts recently wrote an article for Progressive Forage Grower magazine about subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) for alfalfa and other field crops. The article introduces the origins and benefits of SDI, compares SDI to other irrigation technologies (such as gravity, sprinkler, and pivot irrigation), and presents recent SDI case studies.
For the full article, click here to
Continue readingOnce upon a time, no one thought the center pivot would work, mentioned an old Valley farmer leaving the Drip Irrigation Field Day earlier this month.
Producers gathered in both Roger Christensen and Dennis Beiriger’s experimental drip irrigation potato fields to see what happens when a tuber is watered under a controlled irrigation system installed underground. The Colorado Potato Administrative Committee (CPAC) and Rio Grande Roundtable sponsored trial proved Valley crops will grow using the system that delivers water and nutrients directly to the crop’s root and is used in many forms on an international scale, but it still needs a bit of tinkering.
Beiriger and his brothers have turned a small portion their fourth-generation family farm in Hooper into a drip tape demonstration project to prove the benefits of a drip system over a pivot system in a drought-stricken environment.
Continue readingAlthough center pivot sprinkler irrigation (CP) is the predominant irrigation method in the US Great Plains, there is growing interest in the use of subsurface drip irrigation (SDI). Pressurized irrigation systems, in general, are a costly investment. Producers need to carefully determine their best investment options. In 2002, Kansas State University developed a free Microsoft Excel template to compare the economics of center pivot sprinkler irrigation and subsurface drip irrigation for field corn (maize) production.
This template has been updated annually with new input and revenue costs and assumptions. Important factors that have always affected CP and SDI competitiveness are field size and shape suitable for center pivot sprinkler irrigation and longevity of SDI system allowing longer amortization of its greater initial cost. The primary factors that allow SDI to have greater economic competitiveness than was the case in 2002 are greater corn yields and corn price. Using the base assumptions in the template for a square 160 acre field, an SDI system lasting at least 11 years can be cost competitive with a center pivot sprinkler with a life of 25 years.
Continue readingIn the Midwest, the land where pivot irrigation is king, some growers are converting to subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) to save water, decrease energy and labor costs, and increase crop yield and quality. Though there is an initial investment cost, the water savings and yield improvement reduce the payback period and the benefits of subsurface drip irrigation out-weigh many of the drawbacks of pivots, which include limited reach, costly additions, un-watered acres, and water loss to evaporation – just to name a few.
To learn more about SDI, check out the new “how-to” guide to subsurface drip irrigation. Or, continue reading to find out why Midwest growers are converting to subsurface drip irrigation.
Continue readingThe tales of young, tech-savvy entrepreneurs launching new ventures out of Silicon Valley are common. But what about three 20-something brothers who live – not in some high tech mecca – but near the small community of Wilderado, Texas, who started a new business venture?
The Gruhlkey brothers – Brittan, 24, Braden, 25, and Cameron, 20 – are farming cotton, corn, sorghum and wheat while showing how technology plays an important role in farming. The average age of Texas farmers is nearly 60 years old, making their enterprise a unique one and they’re doing this amid huge challenges, including an ongoing drought and a growing demand for water.
“Because of the era we’ve grown up in, we’re comfortable with new technology and not wedded to doing things the way they’ve always been done,” said Braden, a third-generation farmer.
These technological advancements allow them to better water and feed their crops. Through subsurface drip irrigation, they can deliver water uniformly across the field and directly to the root of the plant to use water more efficiently. Through this irrigation system, they can schedule when plants are watered and eliminate over-watering.
Continue readingFor 36 years, Husker Harvest Days has been the premiere agricultural show for the technology that drives irrigation. This year, a subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) system has been installed at the show site to irrigate a cornfield and part of the grass parking lot south of the exhibit area.
Show Manager Matt Jungmann said it’s the first time an SDI system has been installed at the site. He said he’s pleased with the results of the SDI, which Western Irrigation of Garden City, Kan., installed in the spring. Jungmann said last year’s drought was hard on the six-acre parking lot, but the SDI has helped restore the grass. He said corn harvested on the ground with the SDI system is averaging more than 200 bushels per acre.
The SDI drip lines are on 60-inch centers and buried 14 inches deep. The system is fed by a 300-gallon-per-minute well powered by a submersible pump and applies water directly to the crop’s root zone using polyethylene tubing.
The new system, along with other innovations in irrigation technology, are helping farmers conserve water while applying management practices that improve crop production. Technology is also playing a bigger role each year in irrigation, such as connecting a control panel wirelessly to a computer or smartphone so the operator can manage the system remotely.
While companies such as Western Irrigation have been installing SDI systems throughout the Great Plains, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has been researching SDI systems throughout the state.
Continue readingClick here to download Toro’s official guide to Subsurface Drip Irrigation (SDI). For Spanish, click here.
Subsurface Drip Irrigation is a specialized sub-set of drip irrigation where dripline or drip tape “lateral lines” (tubes buried beneath the crop rows) and supply and flushing “submains” (pipes supplying water to the lateral lines) are buried beneath the soil surface for multi-year use. The technique of burying less expensive Bi-Wall drip tape laterals beneath field crops was pioneered in the American Southwest decades ago, and has since been implemented by researchers and growers alike. The SDI technique is now being used throughout the world on a wide range of grain forage and fiber crops including alfalfa, corn, cotton, soybeans and sugarcane. In addition to drip tape, thinwall integral driplines are commonly used as well.
Continue readingIf you are going to Husker Harvest Days in Grand Island, Nebraska next week (Sept. 10-12, 2013), don’t forget to stop by the Toro booth (#436). Toro will be offering a variety of ways for growers to learn about subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) and how it can help them maintain or increase yields using less water, even during a drought. What’s more, visitors to the Toro booth can hear first-hand from growers and local dealers about their experiences with SDI to grow soybeans and corn in Nebraska.
So stop by the show and the Toro booth to learn about the benefits of SDI and to get a free demonstration on designing an SDI system using Toro’s AquaFlow drip irrigation design software.
If you can’t make it to the show, click here to learn more about SDI and how to thrive in a drought.
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On Thursday, September 12, 2013 at 1PM (Pacific Time), the Grange Network will be hosting a 60-minute, FREE webinar to discuss subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) for grain, oilseed, forage and fiber crops. When SDI is used for these lower value crops, careful attention must be given to ensuring system longevity and optimizing crop productivity so that SDI can economically compete with other types of irrigation, including center pivot sprinkler irrigation. The webinar’s presenter will be Dr. Freddie Lamm, a professor and research irrigation engineer at the KSU Northwest Research-Extension Center in Colby, Kansas. Dr. Lamm will provide an overview of typical minimal SDI system requirements to ensure longevity, discuss these lower value cropping systems when used with SDI, and present the challenges and opportunities for SDI.
Click here to register for the FREE webinar, “Subsurface Drip Irrigation for Grain Crop Production.”
Continue readingThe future of agriculture across the Great Plains hinges on water. Without it, nothing can grow.
Climate models and population growth paint a pretty bleak picture for water availability a few decades from now. If farmers want to stay in business, they have to figure out how to do more with less. Enter: super efficient drip irrigation systems.
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